Amazon to unveil eight new Alexa-powered smart home devices by end of 2018

Making Alexa-powered smart speakers and smart displays is just not enough for Amazon, it seems. If reports are to be believed, Amazon is about to unleash a whole range of smart home products such as an Alexa-powered microwave and more.

Amazon Echo Spot. Image: tech2/Nimish Sawant

As per CNBC, this microwave oven happens to be one of eight smart-home products that Amazon plans on unveiling by the end of this year. While the other seven items on the list are yet unnamed, the report states that we can expect devices in which some will have built-in Alexa voice assistant and others which will merely be controlled by Alexa.

The report also states that these list of devices will include an amplifier, receiver, subwoofer and an in-car gadget. Some of these devices are most likely going to be announced later this month as per the report. The aim of Amazon, it would seem, is to make its Alexa voice assistant ubiquitous in places you are most likely to hang around such as your home or your car.

In more Amazon-related news, the company is investigating allegations that some of its staff sold confidential customer data to third-party companies particularly in China, The Wall Street Journal reported on 17 September.

According to the newspaper, which did not give figures, employees of the online giant sell internal data and other confidential information — usually through intermediaries — to merchants who sell their goods on the US giant's website.